Chris Carrabba embraces folk in Twin Forks

Chris Carrabba of emo band Dashboard Confessional fame is kicking himself for not embracing his first love - musically speaking - sooner.

His latest creative endeavour is as frontman for the alt-folk band, Twin Forks, who are currently touring Canada opening for Season 11 American Idol winner Phillip Phillips after beginning to craft their sound three years ago, culminating with the Feb. 25 release of their self-titled album.

"It's kind of amazing in that time Top 40 became a successful showcasing spot for this new movement of folk music like Mumford and Sons but I really thought I was digging myself into an even deeper niche than I had with my last band when I started this," said Carrabba, 38, with a laugh.

"So there is like one half of me is a little irritated that I didn't get there first. The other half of me is so grateful that these bands enjoy the same kind of song structure and instrumentation that I do because it's changed the ear of the average listener who might hear a banjo come on and immediately change the channel will now listen a little closer."

We caught up with the West Hartford, Conn.-born Carrabba when he was rehearsing for the Canadian trek in Pompano Beach, Fla., with Twin Forks bandmates -mandolinist/vocalist Suzie Zeldin (The Narrative), bassist Jonathan Clark and Bad Books drummer Ben Homola - who he met while recording his solo disc, Covered in The Flood, a 2011 collection of covers by such bands as REM and The Replacements.

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Why did you decide to reinvent yourself musically?

This style of music is the biggest influence on me and my writing. ... With influences - you go one of two ways - you can either really trade on them or you, in a reactionary way, start down a different path. And I would say that's something I did when it came to Dashboard. I think I never really heard anybody shout or scream doing folk music and so I chose to do that. .. Certainly when I'm not on stage doing Dashboard songs, when I'm not at home writing Dashboard songs, I still love to play music and that's always what I play. Paul Simon or Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie songs or Dylan songs or Neil Young songs, I'll even play Gordon Lightfoot songs. And a lot of country influences too like Townes Van Zandt and outlaw country guys like Steve Earle, these were things that were playing in my house when I was a kid and so those were the ones that I got as hand-me-down records, that I just used as my diving rod in how to find my own way through music.

How did Twin Forks take shape?

We were sitting around just playing some folk tunes on a back porch and Jonathan, he's the bass player, he's also the producer, and I [were] playing some folk song and he said, 'Chris why are you afraid to do what you love?' And that struck me really deeply because I felt I'd made a whole career out of not being afraid to do what I'm passionate about. And it really made me understand that the time was right to attempt that. ... We went from being a side project where we'd literally say out loud, 'Remember we're not a band, ' to being my band.

What is the status of Dashboard Confessional?

We all would very much like to play together again and will. And one day we'll make music again but we went through a phenomenally prolific run there for at least ten years where we released something every year, an EP or full-length, or both, and sometimes even a covers record or live record, and we toured roughly 200 to 300 days a year every year for those ten years so when all was said and done with that period of time we all knew we needed a break.

Are you an American Idol fan given you're opening for Phillips?

I'm a fan of a lot of the Idols. That's not really the world I came up in. I think I started out being pretty anti-American Idol. But then, just by virture of what I do for a living, I ended up meeting and spending some time with these winners or contestants and realizing the level of talent is pretty much off the charts. And that's when I began to really appreciate the show.

So you think Twin Forks is a good fit with Phillips?

I really like the fact that he's a pretty accomplished guitar player. He has similar tastes to mine in terms of acoustic guitars and his band is pretty amazing. Yeah, we're thrilled.